HM Land Registry set to 'double' fees for home buyers and sellers accessing info

From December 9, HM Land Registry is increasing its fees for home buyers and sellers looking to access information services. This marks the first increase in more than ten years. HM Land Registry is making history by increasing access fees by £4, more than doubling the current price of £3 to access information on the register.

Reported in The Intermediary, the compliance information site Moverly outlined the impact that the price hike will have, as the register is the most commonly used service provided by the government department. With the £3 fee, the HM Land Registry collected an average of £20.2million a year, with Moverly estimating the increase could see an increase of £26.9million.

The price hike will apply to, but is not limited to, access to information such as tenure type, restrictions or easements, land survey results, title plans and caution plans of property title. Additionally, to obtain copies of individual registers or plans will be subject to the £4 increase.

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The registration, cancellation or rectification of an entry per name, whether it be an application or Agricultural Credits Service, will increase from £1 to £5. All of these increases apply to digital services. Anyone planning to do physical applications and searches on paper will see an increase by £6 for searches and £5 for copies.

CEO of Moverly, Gemma Young, warned The Intermediary that homebuyers may find themselves particularly targeted by the rise. She explained: “Homebuyers require a huge amount of information and documentation from different sources that must then be puzzled together to create an accurate and reliable picture of the property they are considering buying.

“That’s why providing up-front information can have a significant impact. The more a buyer knows about a property, the more quickly they can come to an informed buying decision.” The Labour Party government department said that the price rise reflects the increased costs of running and improving HM Land Registry's services, as well as plans to increase digitalisation and transformation of data. However, the government officials say that despite the increase, the majority of customers are still paying less than they were in 1992.